Can VC++ 2008/2010 be easily used on the same code?

Question

I really would like to use 2010 if only since they appear to have fixed intellisense, but everyone else on the project don't have it (nor do I, yet). Is there any particular difficulty upgrading a C++ solution? Any other issues apart from having to remember to update both 2k8 and 2k10 project files with new source files?

Answer 1

Actually, IIRC you can choose to use "ToolsVersion" 3.5 in VS2010, which makes it behave mostly compatibly with VS2008.

However, even if you use completely new project files with the new compiler, it's still C++: there are a few minor differences in supported features, but it's not particularly hard to get the same code compiling on both (I did this, for a while, while VS2010 was in beta, and I'm sure the experience hasn't worsened)

The most annoying aspect is syncing things like linker settings and filenames in project files. It's just a hassle to have to maintain such settings twice.

Incidentally, if you do this, the .filter file VS2010 uses should be checked into source control; it's not a set of user-settings but part of the project.

Answer 2

Since Visual Studio.Net (VC7.1), conversion of projects to newer C++ compilers has been trivial. VC6 upward was hard, VC7.1 upward - a bit easier, anything later than that - not at all difficult. Just load the old vcproj into your new IDE and off you go.

In the interests of completeness, there is a list of Breaking Changes at MSDN.